Justice Department announces $88 million settlement in 2015 Charleston church shooting
CBSN
Washington -- Families and victims of the 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in South Carolina and the Department of Justice have reached a multimillion dollar settlement over multiple lawsuits in which the families alleged federal regulators failed to prevent convicted murder and white supremacist Dylann Roof from purchasing the gun he used to kill nine churchgoers.
Under the 14 settlements announced Thursday, victims' families will receive $6 million to $7.5 million per claim and survivors will receive $5 million per claim, for a total of $88 million.
The families and victims who filed the 2016 lawsuits argued Roof's earlier felony arrest for illegal drug use should have prevented him from purchasing a .45-caliber pistol from Shooter's Choice in West Columbia, South Carolina, before he used the gun in the massacre.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.